Consultations

Today's question is all about clinical hypnosis and the client processes. What I want to know is how you handle the first face to face encounter? Do you do a free consultation first to determine if a person will do well with you as the hypnotist or do you schedule a session and do it all there?

Normally, I tend not to do consultations unless some specifically ask for one. It has been my perspective that as long as you gain rapport and have several methods that you can use at a moments notice, all is well. I have begun to wonder if this is the right way to approach it. A few times, what I have run a cross is someone who "wants to see if they can be hypnotized" and that is really all they want - to experience hypnosis. Often, though, these also tend to be people with a preconceived notion of what they will experience (all that television hype) and when they are not turned in a remote-controlled zombie, they are disappointed, despite the pre-talk.